How to make a cable knit pillow

I asked Lion Brand to send me some of their gorgeous Hometown USA yarn in Cape Cod Tweed for the next pillows for my elegantly masculine bed. I love a big man in a sweater, so I wanted to put that influence right up next to all my suits, and I knew the Hometown USA would be bulky enough to work up fast but not so bulky I’d have to make enormous pillows to have a pattern show up. I loved how this yarn looks in a cable. If you’ve never knit cables before it can be intimidating, but just pay close attention to the pattern, recognize you’re going to have to rip out some mistakes, and just go for it. A little pillow like this one is a great first cable project because it’s as close to instant reward as you can get.

In the video I made below, I walk you through the knitting in laborious detail. Give that a view if you’re a newer knitter or have never had to knit from a graph before. If you’re cool working with a graph, than here you go:
The graph starts on a right side row. Blank rows mean you just knit in pattern. Knit the knits and purl the purls.

Cast on 57 stitches.
Repeat the pattern three times to make a row, ending with a purl 3

To do the crossover:
sl 4sts to needle and hold in back
k 2
bring needle front
return 2 p sts to needle and p them
k2 from cable

Knit in pattern until the piece is roughly square. Weave in ends.

My knit pillow measured 16″ x 16″, so to make my envelope closure I cut two pieces of fabric 16″ tall and 10″ wide. Hem one end of each of the pieces of fabric.

Lay the fabric pieces on to the knit piece, right sides together. Match the edges up so that the hemmed sides overlap across the middle and sew around all four sides.

Stuff with a pillow form and give the whole thing a fluff.

Knit pillows are a revelation. They’re so snuggly!! I think I might have to make versions of these for the living room, because these pillows are begging to be smooshed up and laid upon for a weekend long binge watch.

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